Lancashire are Second Eleven Trophy winners!

Lancashire are the 2016 2ndXI Trophy winners after defeating Somerset by 28 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method in the Final held at Emirates Old Trafford today.

Stephen Parry led the side to victory with three wickets while opening pair Karl Brown and Luis Reece ensured Lancashire were always ahead of the DLS par score on a day where rain never seemed very far away.

This was Lancashire’s seventh 2ndXI Trophy final in 8 seasons and is the fourth time the Red Rose have won the competition following previous success in 1990, 2012 and 2013.

Lancashire won the toss and in overcast conditions that forced the floodlights to be used right from the start, put Somerset in to bat but the visitors made a flying start hitting 27 off the first four overs with Johann Myburgh leading the way with four boundaries and some fine attacking shots.

The Red Rose bowlers hit back with two wickets in two balls; Myburgh falling for 22 when he drove Tom Bailey to Parry at cover from the last ball of the 7th over followed by Adam Hose who edged Toby Lester behind to wicketkeeper Brad Yates for 12 to leave Somerset on 36-2.

When Parry bowled Tim Rouse for 3 with his sixth delivery and had George Bartlett smartly stumped by Yates for 12 in his following over, the visitors were in a spot of difficulty at 53-4 midway through the 14th over.

Somerset’s position soon worsened when Josh Davey, having made 15, advanced down the wicket to Parry only to be defeated by significant turn from the left arm spinner, Yates easily completing his second stumping of the morning to make the score 81-5 in the 22nd over.

Alex Barrow and Michael Leask added 26 runs before rain halted play with Somerset on 107-5 after 29 overs.

There follow a delay of nearly three hours with the game reduced to 44 overs per side and Lancashire made an immediate breakthrough when Leask edged an attempted cut off the last ball of the 30th over from Luis Reece to wicketkeeper Yates, standing up, after making 18.

Barrow and Ben Green added 35 runs in 7 overs but found boundaries hard to come by in the face of some accurate Lancashire bowling before Barrow was bowled by Reece for 34 attempting a front foot leg glance to leave Somerset on 146-7.

Five balls later Green was bowled by Bailey for 23, 152-8 in the 39th over, and Lancastrians hopes of chasing a fairly small target were high at that point.

Somerset pair Dom Bess, with an unbeaten 32 off 24 balls and Tim Groenewald (26 off 15) fought back brilliantly with 57 runs smashed from the final 28 deliveries, both batsmen hitting one six and three fours apiece to steer Somerset to an unlikely 209-9 from their 44 overs.

Skipper Parry was the pick of the Red Rose attack taking 3-22 in his 9 overs.

The DLS adjusted total worked out that Lancashire needed to get one more run than their opponents, so Karl Brown and Luis Reece set out in pursuit of 210 off 44 overs after a brief interval.

In fact Brown and Reece replied in brilliant fashion with an opening partnership that had reached 77 runs in 18 overs before rain once again interrupted proceedings.

Lancashire’s opening pair settled for steady accumulation early in their innings, taking 21 runs from the first five overs and reaching the 10 over mark, which constituted a game under the playing regulations, on 45-0 and crucially, with rain an ever-present threat, 22 runs ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis par score.

The 50 partnership arrived swiftly in the following over, and Reece produced two reverse sweeps off Waller as 13 runs were taken from the 18th to take Lancashire to 77-0, well ahead on DLS by 28 runs.

It proved to be enough, with the umpires abandoning play at 6.30pm as the rain continued to fall with Brown finishing on 37 and Reece 35.

That left Lancashire winners by 28 runs and they are the 2016 Trophy winners.